Forever
by Penelope Louise
Summary: Five years ago, Ziva left for Israel. She still hasn't returned. Tony has been single handedly looking after their child, Rosalia. Will Ziva ever come back to the family that love her most? Tiva.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: I'm on a roll will my new stories here! I hope you enjoy this one. It is dedicated to dizzy - in - the - izzy as I stole her idea =) **_

_**For Izzy:**_

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"Daddy? Where's Mommy?" The first time I heard my daughter Rosalia say those words, I was driving her home from school. I almost drove off the road. She'd never asked about her mother before.

"Why do you ask, Sali?" I said, channeling my voice so it sounded less like I was scared witless.

"We were doing family trees at school. And I didn't know what to write. They gave it to us for homework." Rosalia held up a piece of paper for me to see.

"Shall we talk about it when we get home?" I asked, and she tried to say something but I interrupted her. "Daddy needs to concentrate on his driving."

I hoped that she would have forgotten by the time we reached home, but she didn't. As I was unlocking the front door, she asked again.

"Where is my Mommy?" I sighed, walked in the door after her. I was going to have a whole lot of explaining.

"Let's talk about it over dinner." I needed more time to think about what I was going to tell her.

"But Daddy…" Rosalia's voice was slightly whiny, but I ignored it.

"Go do the rest of your homework, honey." I propelled her into the dining room and she hoisted herself up onto one of the chairs and pulled out some other sheets. I looked at her homework. For a six year old, they sure gave out a lot of homework. She had French to do, along with her math and the family tree. I was just leaving the room when she called me.

"Daddy, I'm stuck." I sighed and turned, and pulled out a chair to sit next to her. She pointed. "French."

"What are you stuck on?" I asked, and she poked the paper. It was matching words to their meanings.

The words were:

_Mom_

_Dad_

_Sister_

_Brother_

_Family_

"Do you know any of them?" She shook her head. "Didn't you do them in class today?"

She nodded. I ruffled her hair.

"Let's start with Dad." I suggested. "Are you sure you don't know that one?"

At parents evening the teacher had told me that she was linguistically talented. She was already fluent in Italian, English and Hebrew. She only knew her mother for one year, so I don't know how she became fluent in Hebrew, since I only ever used a few words.

"Mon père?" She suggested, matching them up.

"That's my girl. Sister." She matched 'sister' with 'sœur' and then proceeded to match 'brother' with 'frère' and 'family' with 'famille.'

"Qu'est-que ce 'mom' en Français?" She asked me, and I began to realize quite how much like her mother she was. Linguistically talented. Same as her mom.

"Which word is left?" I hinted, and she glanced at the sheet.

"Ma mère." She said, and I nodded.

"Well done." I was about to stand up, but she caught hold of my hand.

"Help me with my math?" She smiled angelically, so I sat back down. She had a worksheet to do on fractions.

"What fraction of the shape is shaded?" I asked the question. She looked at the rectangle.

"There's… six little squares. And… two are shaded." She thought for a moment. "One third."

It only took five minutes to finish the sheet, and I had the idea to speak to the teacher about slightly more challenging work.

"Will you help me with my family tree now?" She asked, bringing out **that **worksheet.

"Okay." I agreed. I saw her name was already filled in at the bottom of the tree.

'Rosalia Ziva DiNozzo.'

She'd scrubbed out the boxes for sisters and brothers.

"Well, Daddy goes here." I pointed to one of the boxes above 'You' marked 'Father.' She was about to write, and then looked confused.

"What's your full name daddy?" She asked. I chuckled.

"Anthony Deangelo DiNozzo." I told her, and she wrote it down, only pausing to ask me the spelling of my middle name.

"What's grandpa's full name?" She asked.

"Do you want Gibbs or your real grandfather?" I asked.

"Gibbs!" She said it as if it was completely obvious. She'd never met her real grandfather. He hadn't want to see me again, hadn't even turned up to my wedding.

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs." I told her, and she wrote that down too.

"He has a weird name." She said, and I chuckled. "What about my grandmamma?"

I was stumped, so I decided to phone up Gibbs and ask. He told me to get her to write down 'Shannon Gibbs.' I was surprised, she was one wife I'd never heard about before, but Rosalia added her to the tree anyway.

"What about my auntie?" She asked me. "Does Auntie Abby count?"

"You can write her down if you want to. What about Auntie Bella? Or Auntie Magdalena?" She thought for a moment and then decided.

"I'll write them all down." She started writing in the 'Auntie' boxes. Soon, one side of the sheet was almost full, with 'Auntie Abby and Uncle Tim' and 'Auntie Bella and Uncle Fabian' and 'Auntie Magdalena and Uncle Nataniele', and below them, Cousins 'Justin', 'Bianca', 'Cristiano', 'Allegra', 'Italia', 'Lauretta' and 'Sofia.'

"What's my mommy called?" She asked.

"Ziva David." I replied.

"Not DiNozzo?" She asked me curiously, and I shook my head. It had used to be David-DiNozzo, but it had been changed.

"What are her mommy and daddy called?" She asked me, and I told her their names.

"Her daddy is Eli David and her mommy is Meira David." I said, and after asking for the spelling, she wrote them down too. "She had a brother called Ari and a sister called Talia."

"Had?" I was surprised at how she picked up on the verb usage.

"They died." I said bluntly, remembering how Ziva had told me about what really happened with her brother.

"Oh." Rosalia sighed. "So I have no cousins on Auntie Talia and Uncle Ari's side?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, honey."

"Daddy what's for dinner?" I was surprised at the sudden change of conversation.

"What do you want?" I asked her, and after a brief discussion on which pizza we should have, we ended up on pepperoni, we decided to order in. In Rosalie's words, 'to give Daddy a break from cooking.'

Our pizza came, and I served it onto plates and carried it into the dining room so we could eat. Rosalia had cleared away her school stuff so the table was clear. I was just biting into my second piece when she spoke.

"Why don't I see my mommy?" She asked, and I almost choked on the pizza I was eating.

"Why do you want to know now?" I asked her, and she shrugged.

"We were talking about what our parents do. I said my daddy served his country at NCIS, but I don't know what mommy does." I tried not to wince at the sudden conversation turn, but I already had a headache from thinking about her. Ziva.

"Your mommy worked for NCIS too." I told her.

"Why doesn't she anymore?" Rosalie pressed me for details. I remembered that day, five years ago.

"_Tony." I looked up to see Ziva leaning on the front of my desk._

"_Yes, Zee-vah?" I smiled up at her, but my smile disappeared at the look on my face. She had just returned down from MTAC and I wondered what had happened._

"_I'm leaving." She said, and it was then that I noticed the tears in her eyes. "To Israel."_

"_What about Sali?" I was referring to our one year old baby. She had been born nine months after we married. _

"_I…" Suddenly, tears were overflowing down her cheeks. I jumped up and pulled her into a hug._

"_Ziva." I brushed the tears from her face._

"_My father says he wants be back at Mossad. He is terminating my liaison position here at NCIS. I told him about Salia, but he said he didn't want her. He said I shouldn't have ever married you. I don't want to go. I really don't. I'm sorry…"_

"_Forever?" I asked, and she nodded sadly. That night, I got home to find almost all of her stuff missing, as well as some of my shirts. When I got into work the next morning, Gibbs announced the termination of Ziva's liaison position at NCIS. It was final. She was gone._

"Her father wanted her to go back to Israel to work for him there." I explained.

"Why didn't we go with her?" She asked, and I could understand the confusion.

"Her father didn't want us there." I said sadly, and she pouted.

"I don't like her father." She said, shaking her head. I laughed.

"Me neither." I agreed.

"When is she coming back?" She asked, and I sighed.

"I don't know, Sali, I don't know."

_**A/N: Aw =) I hope you enjoyed that! The second chapter will be up soon.**_

_**Please review!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Thanks for all your reviews on this story! I already have 19 alerts!!!**_

_**I promised to update, I'm keeping that promise!**_

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Two years on and still Ziva hadn't returned. Now, I had photos of me and Ziva, of Ziva, and of Ziva and Sali alongside the photos already there of me and Sali, Sali, and everyone else at NCIS.

It was the week before Rosalia's eighth birthday, and she was receiving lots of post.

When I opened my post one morning, I found a letter inside one envelope, with a smaller envelope with 'For Rosalia' written on it. I recognized the handwriting, and opened out the letter.

_Dear Tony,_

_I know it must seem as if I have dropped off the face of the earth. I haven't written, I haven't called. I'm sorry. I did write, and I did call. I only found out last week that my father has been keeping my mail I sent to you, and not giving me the letters you sent to me. I didn't know that he was blocking you from sending me emails or receiving my emails. I didn't know that he had blocked your telephone number so when I called you it said your phone was off. I'm supposedly on an undercover mission in Baghdad. Tomorrow I am catching the flight to New York, and from there I am flying to Washington DC. _

_I hope you don't hate me for what I did. Leaving, I mean. I hope that my daughter will recognize me, and I hope that she will not hate me for leaving her be__hind. It is her birthday in eleven days, I know that. I have sent cards for her every year. At Christmas, too. I sent cards to Abby, McGee and Gibbs too. And you, of course. I guess none of them have been received, have they?_

_I wanted to tell you that I was coming. I didn't want to turn up unannounced on your door step, especially after seven years of being away. I just didn't think that would be quite right to do. When I return to America, I am going to apply for an American citizenship. I am still married to you, or at least I think I am. If so, then I will be able to apply for a job at NCIS for good. So my father cannot summon me back to Israel at he pleases. So I can stay with my husband and my daughter forever._

_I want to remind you that I love you, and I always have done, even though I have been a world apart from you for seven years. I love you, and I always will._

_Forever yours,_

_Ziva._

"Daddy, why are you crying?" I looked up suddenly to find Rosalia in front of me, looking worried.

"I'm fine, Salia, honest." I smiled up at her, pushing the letter back into its envelope. She would already be in DC, since the letter was dated the 4th of June. It had taken a week to get to me.

"You said you'd take me shopping today!" Rosalia grinned at me, and I groaned theatrically.

"Again?" I mock complained. "Didn't we go last weekend?"

"Daddy." She pouted, and I ruffled her hair, which was looking more and more like her mother's every day. She'd started karate classes the year before, and already most people in her class were scared of her. She'd already progressed up to the stage of green belt, and most people took about three years to reach that belt. I'd tried taking her to ballet classes and that had worked, for a while, until she had decided she wanted to do tennis lessons instead, and unfortunately they were on the same day.

She'd been a graceful girl, and the ballet had helped her in karate no end, even though the romantique dance style was a world away from the martial art. I had to say, she seemed to be pretty good at whatever she did.

Just like Ziva.

She had also already attracted the attention of some of the boys in her class. I dreaded the time when she reached her teenage years.

"Come on then." I said, picking her up in a fireman's lift and walking her out the door.

"Daddy!" She shrieked, laughing as I sat her in the front seat of my car. "Shoes, daddy."

"Honestly, do I have to do everything?" I joked, and went back inside to grab her a pair of shoes.

Soon, we arrived at the mall, and she took my hand as we walked around.

"In here, daddy." She dragged me into a clothes shop and over to the racks of girls clothing. I got a few sympathetic looks from other fathers being dragged around by young girls and their mothers, only there for the use of their credit card.

Rosalia held up a top for me to see.

"What do you think daddy?" She asked, and I looked at it. It was a white top with decoration around the neckline, and reminded of something Ziva had once worn.

"To go with…" I looked along the rack at the pants, and found a pair of black combat pants. I crouched down and held them against her. "These?"

"Good daddy." My daughter patted me on the head, grinning. After another twenty minutes in the shop, we bought the clothing she chose and a few items for me from the men's part of the shop.

When we were walking back to the car, she asked me a question.

"Daddy, who wrote the letter that made you cry?" She asked and I stopped dead. It was a bad idea, we were crossing the road. I only moved when she tugged at my hand because people in cars were getting irritated with us standing on the zebra crossing.

"I was happy, Sali." I explained.

"Don't people cry when they're sad?" She questioned. I shook my head.

"Not always. Sometimes you cry when you're really happy too." I smiled. "You'll find out who wrote the letter in four days."

Rosalia grinned.

"My birthday!"

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A/N: Well, I hoped you enjoyed that! Please review!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: The last and final chapter! Dedicated to dizzy – in – the – izzy. **__**I hope you enjoy it, and the ending is probably not what you expected!**_

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I was woken up by an irritating tapping on my window. I got up, bleary eyed and stumbled over to the window. I looked out. Ziva was under my window. The tapping had been her throwing stones to get me up. She noticed me and I waved, before running down the stairs to open the door.

"Ziva!" I exclaimed, and she hurried in, a large holdall in her left hand. I embraced her, and she dropped her bag before hugging me back.

"Tony!" She gasped, and I took her face in my hands and kissed her. Hard. For a very long time. When she pulled away, I hugged her again, and I felt dampness soaking through the shoulder of my shirt and realized she was crying.

"Ziva!" I gasped, brushing away her tears. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Ziva laughed slightly. "I just can't believe I'm back here, with you."

"Well, you are." I said brightly, and picked up her bag and began to walk up the stairs.

"Mind if I make myself breakfast?" She asked me. "I haven't eaten for ten hours."

"Ouch." I commented, feeling like I was dancing on a cloud. "Sure, go ahead."

I placed her bag in my bedroom. "Daddy?" I turned to see Rosalia leaning against the doorframe in her pajamas. I glanced at my clock.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" I asked, seeing as it was 4 in the morning. "Can't sleep?"

"I thought I heard something." Rosalie replied.

"Go back to bed, Sali. I'll wake you up when it's time for school." I promised her, and she glared at me.

"Fine." She said grumpily, before turning on her heel and disappearing back into her bedroom. I smirked, before going back downstairs to Ziva.

"Did I hear Salia?" She asked me, and I nodded.

"We woke her up." I answered. "She's gone back to bed now."

I didn't want Sali to find out that Ziva was back yet, it was meant to be like a birthday present for her.

By the time I woke Rosalie up, three hours later for school, Ziva had gone to see Gibbs. She needed to talk to him, she had told me. It would also be easier for her not to be seen by Sali.

I took Rosalia to her school, and arrived home to find Ziva sitting on the doorstep.

"Oops." I chuckled. "I guess you'll need a key."

Ziva smirked, before standing up and brushing dirt off from her combat pants. Tony unlocked the door and pushed it open, and then followed Ziva inside. She walked over to a cabinet and picked up a photo that was sitting on top of it.

She ran her eyes over the familiar faces. Abby, McGee, Gibbs, Tony and… Rosalie.

"She was six then. It was Christmas." Tony remembered. Ziva could feel tears well in her eyes, and blinked hard. Tony hugged her then, and she pressed her face into his t-shirt, inhaling the familiar fragrance.

"I guess I'd better be off to work." Tony sighed, and kissed her forehead.

"Me too." Ziva agreed, and he looked at her quizzically. "That's what I spoke to Gibbs about. I can come for a 'training day' to see if I'm okay to come and work at NCIS again."

Tony grinned. "Let's get going then!"

Soon, they arrived at the NCIS headquarters.

"ZIVA!" McGee shouted when he saw the familiar woman walking into the bullpen. He ran to her and hugged her tightly. "Gee, we missed you."

Ziva smiled and kissed his cheek. "I missed you too McGee."

"Nice to have you back Ziver." Gibbs said, walking into the bullpen with a cup of coffee.

"Can I go say hi to Abby?" Ziva asked, and he nodded. When Ziva had disappeared into the lift, Tony turned to Gibbs.

"Is that really safe, Gibbs? Abby will probably break her bones in a hug." Gibbs chuckled.

"OH MY GOD ZIVA YOU ARE BACK!" Abby screamed when Ziva walked into the lab. She ran at Ziva and crushed her in a bear hug.

"Can't… breathe… Abby…" Ziva said, and Abby released her.

"You're back? For good?" She asked her best friend, who she hadn't seen for years.

"I hope so." Ziva smiled and Abby's ecstatic expression. She noticed the area of wall in the lab that was covered in photos. Of her. And a countdown. It currently read:

1857 DAYS.

"1857 days since what?" Ziva asked, puzzled.

"Since you left." Abby replied. "But you're back!"

The day passed in a flash of reports and cold cases, and soon Gibbs sent the team home. Tony went to pick Rosalia up from the after-school care club after he'd dropped Ziva off at his house.

"Daddy!" Rosalie ran and jumped at him and he caught her. She wrapped her legs around his waist. "Did you get any cases today?"

"No honey, just reports and cold cases." Tony replied, and she pouted.

"That's boring." She complained. Tony chuckled.

"Too right." He smiled at Charlotte, one of the women who looked after the kids in the club as he signed Sali out. "Thanks."

"See you tomorrow, Salia." Charlotte ruffled the little girl's hair affectionately.

"Bye, Lottie." Salia leaned over to hug the woman who was like Abby to her, the amount she was looked after by Charlotte when Tony had to stay and work late. By the time they got home, Rosalie was fast asleep, to Tony's relief. He picked her up, and took her inside and upstairs. He removed her socks and shoes, and laid her under the covers. He wouldn't wake her up. She was sleeping peacefully, something she hadn't done for a while.

He returned downstairs to find Ziva sitting on the couch.

"She's asleep." He informed her, and she nodded.

Three hours later, they decided to retire to bed too. Ziva lay down next to Tony, something she hadn't done for five years.

"Laila tov." She whispered.

"Buona notte." He replied.

*

The next morning Tony woke up. Alone. He glanced over at the empty space on the other side of his bed and sighed. He got ready and drove himself to work.

"Morning, Tony." McGee greeted him.

"Morning, McGee." McGee noticed the lack of nickname.

"Something wrong?" he asked the older agent.

"I had a weird dream." Tony replied, staring over at the empty desk across from him in the bullpen.

"What about?" McGee asked curiously. Tony decided to omit the parts about having a daughter.

"I thought Ziva was back." He said softly, and McGee sighed. Ziva staying in Israel had really hit Tony hard. Gibbs walked into the bullpen.

"When will she phone, boss?" Tony looked up at Gibbs, and Gibbs noticed the wistful look in the younger agent's eyes.

"When she can, Tony. When she can."

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A/N: *sniff* Post-Aliyah. Sorry to crush all your Tiva reunion dreams, but I'm feeling pessimistic… Just joking. I didn't want to have the Ziva comes back; we're all happy families sort of thing. **_

_**Please review.**_


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